The Afghan government on Thursday signed contracts with UAE-based consortium, GAAC/G42, to provide security, advanced technology systems and ground handling services for all international airports in the country.
Sources said the international airports' operations projects were awarded to the UAE-based consortium without a bidding process. But the National Procurement Commission, which led the process, said that the contracts were signed using procedures required for awarding government projects to international companies.
Sources said the consortium has been awarded the projects $4 million higher than the previous contractors.
The contracts include security service at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul and other international airports in Herat, Balkh, and Kandahar. The company will also provide ground handling services to Hamid Karzai International Airport as well as the Herat and Kandahar airports.
“The projects for ground handling services for three airports and the security services for four airports of the country, including Kabul, Herat, Balkh and Kandahar were awarded by the National Procurement Commission to a UAE company named G42 (Group 42) for three years that worth $47.6 million,” said Ahmad Ramin Ayaz, a spokesman for National Procurement Authority.
A legal expert, Shabir Shabiri, said the contract has been awarded through a “vague” process and that “it is not acceptable.”
“Such an approach questions the transparency of the contract,” said Shabiri.
Previously, the National Aviation Services (NAS) and Olive Group were providing ground handling and security services for the country’s airports, including Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, for many years.
The two companies have been given November 5 as a deadline for the end of their contracts, according to Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA).
ACAA chief Mohammad Qasim Wafaeezada said that with the arrival of the new company, the government will be able to prevent illegal transfer of money and gold smuggling through airports.
The Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed that the Investment Facilitation Unit and the National Procurement Authority have been involved in processing the contracts.
But NPA and IFU have insisted on their role in simplifying and advancing the projects and said that the Afghan Civil Aviation Authority was the main entity responsible for identifying and selecting contractor companies.